Relativity Space announces its first launch contract, it's a big contract

The ambitious rocket company Relativity announced Friday its first customer, the global satellite operator Telesat. The contract for flights on the Terran 1 rocket includes "several" launches, but Relativity's general manager, Tim Ellis, said he could not provide additional details.

"It's a monumental contract for relativity," Ellis told Ars in an interview. Although this is the first contract the company has chosen to announce, Relativity has already signed other binding contracts.

Relativity sees this as a huge victory because it offers another validation of its – and in reality, it's not an exaggeration –revolutionary approach to launch. The company aspires to use large 3D printers to manufacture almost all of a rocket, thus automating the process and taking another step towards an inexpensive on-demand launcher service. It's one thing for a private company to build a new rocket to launch small satellites, it's another to try to redo the manufacturing process.

Ellis said that Telesat had been in discussion with Relativity for a while, so the satellite operator had good access to Relativity's launch technology. After this due diligence, Telesat chose relativity in addition to previous offers with SpaceX, Arianespace and Blue Origin. In fact, Telesat decided that Relativity's Terran 1 booster, with a capacity of 1.25 tonnes in low Earth orbit, was well-designed to help launch a large constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites that would provide connectivity global broadband.

"It's amazing, especially when you look at Telesat's record," said Ellis. "We are joining the ranks of some of these top companies."

Ellis compared Telesat's contract with a SpaceX announcement in 2011, when that company had signed its first major commercial customer for the Falcon 9 rocket with the SES fleet operator. This mission became mission SES-8, launched in December 2013 and the first time a Falcon 9 rocket sent a payload in geostationary transfer orbit. "TIt was a huge marker of credibility and validation for SpaceX, "said Ellis.

Of course, Relativity has not yet launched its Terran 1 rocket – when SpaceX made this announcement in 2011, the company had already successfully completed two Falcon 9 test flights. Ellis said the development of the Terran rocket 1 was proceeding on schedule. its first orbital test at the end of 2020. The company is also continuing its growth with a staff of 80 people. They will have a lot of work to do over the next 18 months to reach the Florida launch area.